text: Tritium is an uncommon product of the nuclear fission of uranium-235, plutonium-239, and uranium-233, with a production of about one atom per 10,000 fissions. The main pathways of tritium production include ternary fission of some kind. The release or recovery of tritium needs to be considered in the operation of nuclear reactors, especially in the reprocessing of nuclear fuels and in the storage of spent nuclear fuel. The production of tritium is not a goal, but rather a side-effect. It is discharged to the atmosphere in small quantities by some nuclear power plants. Voloxidation is an optional additional step in nuclear reprocessing that removes volatile fission products (such as all isotopes of hydrogen) before an aqueous process begins. This would in principle enable economic recovery of the produced tritium but even if the tritium is only disposed and not used, it has the potential to reduce tritium contamination in the water used, reducing radioactivity released when the water is discharged since tritiated water cannot be removed from "ordinary" water except by isotope separation.
  Given the specific activity of tritium at , one TBq is equivalent to roughly .